I've done most of my backpacking and camping in the rain forest on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State where it's not uncommon to get over 12 feet of rain per year. I learned a long time ago (the hard way) that if it was raining or if rain was expected, to always set up a light-weight silnylon tarp over the place I planned on erecting my tent and rain fly. By first setting up a tarp, I can erect my tent and fly without either of them getting rained on. Doing so also allows me to keep all the contents of my pack dry as I unload them as well. In addition to keeping my tent dry, having a tarp over my tent makes the task of taking down the tent and reloading my pack much drier too. I never have to be concerned about putting away a wet tent or having to set up a wet tent the following day. In the 35 years I've been doing this, I've never had to contend with having wet gear.
I'm right there with you, 35 years and I go to both the Olympic Peninsula as well as out past Randle and into the Cascades.... If you aren't ready for our rains you should own a trailer lol
yeah but the people who are into ultralight backpacking want to take as little with them as possible, and the tents that he's using are definitely geared towards those type of people. somebody is into that definitely is going to want to avoid taking an extra tarp. however I doubt somebody who's into the ultralight scene is going to lack knowledge in this regard, this is more aimed at beginners. I say that but here he is putting the stakes in at an angle, he also didn't mention making sure not to set up in a location that's about to fill up with water. I had a buddy who was stealth camping and while he was away at work it began to rain, and it turns out that while those tall grasses were great to hide his campsite they were also an indication that where he was camping was an intermittent wetland. Everything he had was ruined because his stealth camp spot turned into a creek while he was away.
I agree fully with a light tarp covering the tent in rainy weather, although on trips to the Bogachiel the water can almost seem to rise up from the ground as well. My 8' x 10' Zpacks tarp is 7 ounces -- maybe 10 oz with lines and clips -- worth every bit of the weight if it's really raining. It's a good idea as noted above to find a location that drains rather than fills -- not always easy.
@@joelhollingsworth6172 Absolutely, and not always easy to set up a tarp either! Especially if you're camping on a beach like you might on coastal trails. You need lots of rope and some creative use of driftwood logs in those cases. PNW forests are great for trees, but the alpine can also be lacking good options for tarps unless you can use your hiking poles.
I just put a tarp over my tent and secure it with guylines to create a sliding surface or an a frame so the water won't accumulate. My tent is not waterproof so without the tarp/separate rain fly, I would always wake up from wetness..
It's even better under a fly tarp. You can move around in the morning rain and get a small cook campfire going. Hang out and watch your surroundings and not be hemmed in a cramped, confining tent. Haven't wasted time or effort on a tent for 40 some yrs.
Can I get ground condensation thru the floor ? Had a surprise small amount of water under sleep pad, ground cover looked good, Tyvek under that …. Just wondered where that water came from …. Hi Dan !
Don’t just make sure you’re setup is sound. Make sure your backpacking buddies are setup properly too. Otherwise you might find that your 2-person tent suddenly needs to hold 3 people.
That is a VERY good advice. Most of us may have had this experience some time in the past, where a trip became less of a wonder by having a few friends, pref. married couple, having not prepared themselves, and began arguing when water came into their love nest during the night. Cheers.
Quite a few nights waking up to noisy neighbors whose tent sprang a leak. I just get up and start a fire so they can dry out, then re-rig my tarp to hold a few more near the fire. Eventually the arguing stops and everyone is friends again by breakfast-and I get to sleep the remainder of the night without hearing the argument.
After a very wet weekend at cub scout camp with boys, I learned to always leave a dry set of clothes in the car for the ride home. Knowing that you at least have that too look forward to at the end of your trip makes it easier to deal with.
Sure, if that's how you do it. I remember a 8 hour long train trip with most things wet, and a lot of hikers in that same situation. Stay warm and dry or get sick.
I keep a dry, clean set so that I can spit wash and not smell like butt and onions for the drive home. That was such a miserable drive, I'm not doing that again. I couldn't stand the smell of myself.
Dead or compromised trees and branches are called Widow Makers for a reason. Stay safe folks, and always check for any trees or large branches that could be felled in a storm or high winds.
The most common thing I see is misreading the lay of the land - ending up in that nice flat spot that is really the bottom of a bowl and waking up in the middle of a miniature lake!
I ve had this experience and all I can say is I'm glad I knew the doggy paddle, back stroke, and side stroke, for when I was tried of the mark spitz speed swim method.
A few months ago I made the mistake of pulling the ground tarp out a ways in front of the tent door to make a sort of 'entry mat' to stomp the mud off of our boots before going into the tent (which at the time I thought was a brilliant idea). Fast forward to 2 AM in the morning and water had puddled on the tarp and flowed underneath the tent and you could push your hand on the tent floor and hear/ feel the giant bubble of water like we were on top of a water bed. I was worried that the water would find some small hole in the floor and come inside the tent, so we ended up having to go outside during the worst part of the rainstorm, in the dark, at 2am, and try to pull the tarp out from underneath the tent to let the extra water drain into the (thankfully sandy) soil. The water between the tent and the tarp had made some sort of a vacuum effect and It was an interesting struggle to break the seal between the tarp and the tent in order to pull it out, I was worried we were going to pull the whole g** d*** tent over with it. Never making that mistake again!
My 10x10 tent is always set up on a 10x12 tarp to provide the 'entry mat" or porch at the tent entrance. I have two 6 ft. long X 3" foam pool noodles that get installed under the tarp, just inside the front perimeter line of the tent entrance. This creates a raised dam/barrier that prevents any water landing on the "porch" migrating under the tent floor. Works perfect...never had water under the tent floor...and still enjoy the convenience of the "porch" feature.
The only thing that comes to mind, cuz I grew up in WA state which puts camping in the rain to the test, is not having proper shoes and warm dry gloves. Nothing like getting your shoes wet the first day then putting on wet shoes the rest of the time. Or having wet hands that more quickly go numb when the temps drop, and having to set up a tent with numb hands. Also a funny story. My dad decided, before we camped in the rain forests of WA, to make a car top carrier and make it without one screw or nail. Just wood glue. Well after two days of rain on our 7 day trip, the carrier came completely apart and we were miles from a hardware store where he could get supplies to fix it so me and my mom and siblings sat all day in the tent as he drove 2 hrs one way to the nearest hardware store to get tools, screws and nails and hammer and screwdriver. And then back to fix it in the monsoonal rain. He was not a happy camper, literally. My last trip with him before he died, I took him back there cuz I told him we needed a redo. We got a cabin cuz he was too crippled up to sleep in a tent. And you what? No rain. Nothing but blue skies, or that regions version of it. Lol
Welcome, Emmet! Few more: 1) Not drying out wet tents/gear during hike breaks if it's stopped raining. 2) Wearing your dry clothes instead of putting your wet clothes back on and ending up with no dry clothes.
When setting up on any sort of uneven ground, even if the ground is mildly uneven, try to pitch your tent with the entrance facing downhill. I once experienced a brief, unexpected downpour while away from camp on a hike. When I later returned, I found that water had piled up so rapidly at the door, it spilled through the threshold via the closed zipper door, flooding the inside of my tent. Looked like a bathtub of muddy water. Everything inside was completely soaked. The tent held the water extremely well though... 🤔
You can also trench around the tent to direct water away from the tent. I did that when a downpour was just starting and it saved my tent from a flood.
If I’m expecting heavy, and I mean HEAVY, rain I dig a little trench to divert water. It doesn’t have to be much, but it will make a huge difference. Door placement depends on your tent too. For instance, the Fly Creek shown in the video. Most people sleep with their head at the door end. Having that end downhill would be a bad idea, though it’s personal. Most people wouldn’t enjoy sleeping with their head lower than their body.
As a kid, I thought the whole point was to wake up freezing cold with water flooding my tent after getting no sleep. Apparently it “builds character”, which to be fair it did help toughen me up, but BOY did I have a wake up call later in life
I used to think I was "not a camping person" for the same reason. Lost so many good years before I learned that most campers - who aren't dying of testosterone poisoning, at least - will give you total permission to bring whatever the Hell you _personally_ need to have a comfortable sleep, stay warm, & otherwise have an enjoyable time on-site (as long as you can schlep it).
A couple of years ago my nephew was camping in the redwoods and a large limb fell on him in the middle of the night. Crushed his pelvis and broke several ribs. He is fine now but had to be life flighted out and took 2 years to recover. Be carful out there.
OMG!! Where was this video last year when my wife and I were camping in Deception Pass and it rained for 2 days solid while we were camping?! Our tent went well past it's water resistance level, we had a tarp that we'd used under the tent, but it went well beyond the tent footprint (I didn't know any better then), and worst of all, even our rainfly was dripping. We almost packed it in and got a hotel after we awoke with soaked sleeping bags and pads, but after a quick trip to THD for some tarps, we solved our problem. I also learned that I'm really good at starting fires in the rain with firesteel. What a weekend! Welcome Emmett!
Good video, Dan! Thanks for the reminder about "widow-makers," trees that can come down in the middle of the night. On my trip to the Shawnee National Forest last week, that was on my mind in each place we camped. The last night in particular was very windy. My son and I woke up, packed up, and started to head out. Just down the trail, we found a large pine that had fallen in the middle of the night. A good reminder to keep safety first!
I don't suppose most ultralight folks will do this, but it's certainly appealing to weekenders. Carry an extra 16 oz. and bring a light tarp. Fly the tarp over the tent and you'll have an area where you can cook out of the rain, stand up and stretch, or just hang out without claustrophobia. A side wind can still get you wet, but your tent and camp will generally be dryer and more comfortable.
I'll disagree on one aspect of the ground cloth: I've found it's actually best to use one that is *bigger* than the footprint of your tent. That way, the excess can be rolled up underneath the tent footprint. It still won't stick out, and the roll creates a dam to keep all ground water out of the space under the tent floor. I do plenty of canoe camping in the wilderness, and always use a mid-gauge plastic ground cloth under my tents, cut to size with several extra inches all around. Before the fly goes on, I walk around the tent and roll the excess underneath.
Yea I found that curious. I was always taught to have one around the same size or bigger. Smaller means part of your tent simply isnt protected. As long as the tarp avoids any upwards angles, the run off never goes under my tent.
For our bike trips we own tents which can be set up as one. The outer shell, the inner tent and the "ground sheet" or "footprint" by simply just putting in the "sticks" of the tent. And the "ground sheet" is like 2 inches smaller than the ground area of the outer shell. Which helps tremendously with water coming from out of the ground. It doesn't help with large amounts of surface water though. That is more of a thing of positioning the tent properly. Forgive my lack of proper vocabulary. I could tell you what they are in German, but i don't know the english counterpart for the terms.
Yep. I create a bathtub effect by placing rocks and branches under the ground tarp edges, works very well to keep the water out and I rarely roll outside the hard edges.
I’ve always done the same. It’s what dad taught me, but I’ve never seen any RUclipsr say anything other than use a ground sheet smaller than the tent’s footprint.
Lots of good advice. Choosing the HH rating is quite variable imo . After 50 plus years of camping I’ve learned teepees with a 2000 Hydrostatic Head are great at keeping out rain as they have a very steep fall But dome tents etc need imo at least 3000 but preferably 4000 and up HH as the tops are way flatter to the weather . One old army trick if you get cold wet feet and can’t dry them , boots off put your feet into ordinary plastic bags (shopping bags work well ) then put your boots back on. I guarantee within minutes your feet will be toasty warm
I'm a little late to the thread, but one thing that was made very clear to me in a hail storm my 2nd or 3rd night out on the A.T. in 2017 was that the tent orientation matters. I have a ZPacks Duplex. The vestibules are constructed as two overlapping flaps on each side held out by guy lines. If that overlap is open in the direction of the wind, at some point you will not have a tent. You will have loose cloth as the wind rips into that gap, pulls out your tent stakes from the (now) soaked earth and the entire structure becomes unstable. Learning to rotate that 180 degrees so the opening is away from the prevailing wind direction significantly improved the many rainy nights that followed on that trip and in the years since.
Most nylon tents do not let rain water in but there is a however. Stay away from the walls. any touching of the nylon will allow water to get through. Be sure your rain fly is tight enough to not touch the screening on the top of the tent in a rain. Once the rain fly touches the screen all the water on it will break through.
Bought a 2 person tent for me and the wife (GF at the time). I'm a large guy that took up most of the tent myself. Rain came in due to fabric touching the sides and the ground cover was too large and channeled water under us. We woke up in the middle of the night to a lake in our tent and all or our clothing was unprotected and soaked. Spent the rest of the night in her little VW and the whole next day at the laundromat. I broke almost every rule you brought up in this video and then some! Still better than not camping though.
An important consideration for DCF tents when backpacking (less important for car camping): DCF does not absorb any water either. Not only will it keep water off of you and your gear, but it will not gain any weight from absorbed moisture. Shake it off before you pack it away, and you won't be carrying water weight in your tent fabric. Even the best silnylon will pick up a surprising amount of weight from moisture in the fabric.
Hi guys, special hello to Emmet. We learned these things the hard way, 8 day camping (first time in 30 years, mind you) in the Oklahoma forest, in October. It rained for 6 days and only cleared up for the final 2 days. What an experience!!
For the water proof liner for your bag, try contractor bags. They're a couple mils thick and wont puncture as easy as a regular trash bag. Just food for thought everybody.
Hey ive been camping for about 4 years now and in Europe where the Rain takes up about 70% of the year and these are tips you couldnt find that easy on here 4 years ago. So thanks for the New campers out there, these are good tips.
I've been camping since the early 2000s, and have never owned a tent over 150 bucks. My biggest was a 6 person that I used for festivals, bought for 125 bucks on clearance, Coleman brand. Survived an entire winter set up in my back yard covered in snow. Never once leaked, and actually got super warm inside with all the snow packed around it. My biggest problem in the last 20 years has been keeping cool in the mornings actually. I always have enough to keep warm at night, but by morning it's always an oven inside.
You can never review the basics often enough. This experience didn't ruin my trip but created anxiety, very simplify I never set my tent up in the rain before going out on a hike. Welcome Emmet. Thanks Dan
Don’t forget to use the Velcro to attach your fly to the poles. Not only does it help with alignment and general stability, you’re wasting your time with guylines if the fly isn’t velcroed to the poles. Notice those pole attachment Velcro strips are always aligned with guyline attachment points? 🤔
I’d recommend a ground cloth that’s actually BIGGER than your tents floor blueprint. Reason being is so you can fold down to the proper dimensions as you see fit down to the literal inch. You can’t make a cloth bigger, but you can definitely make it smaller. Also, if it’s big enough to fold completely in half then you have that much more insulation from the ground.
Marketing. If I can sell you a lighter weight tent than the other guy, you’re more likely to buy my tent. Many of these tents are geared toward ultralight backpacking which, for some reason doesn’t take into account that you still need a tarp and fly. A lot of ultralighters will save on money by getting Tyvek for their tarps and cutting to size, so most people just accept that they’ll need to protect the floor of their tent. But yes, to answer your question, I’d rather carry a couple extra ounces for reassurance that my tent floor is stronger and slightly heavier and will be safe. This is from someone who would count grams backpacking through the Grand Canyon for 8 days, then bring all the latest electronics just because I could. It’s passion and preference, where none of it really makes logically sense. @@mikaelhgn1
After a few misjudgements on our adventure me and my hiking buddy arrived way too late at the bottom of the mountain after dark. We were both exhausted so we picked the first relatively flat area we could find. There were big rocks and patches of grass. Everything was wet because it rained most of the day but it wasn't too bad and we didn't want to look for a better place in the dark. We ate a well deserved meal and went to bed. When we woke up the next morning it was already raining. It stopped for a quick moment and we made breakfast. My friend packed up his tent and we layed out some stuff to dry in the sun that came out. As we were finishing breakfast it started to rain again. We sat in my tent that was big enough for two people and we waited for the rain to stop so we could start our way back. Heavier rain and wind set in and we decided to not go back over the mountain unless the weather cleared up. We waited and I took a look outside. The front vestibule where we kept our shoes and backpacks was already soaking wet. I opened the back vestibule and realised half of the tent was in a 5 cm deep puddle. My tent was barely high enough to keep the water out, but to our surprise the inside of the tent was still dry. We had to wait for a few hours until the clouds passed and the sky cleared up. When we got out of the tent we realised we set up our tents at the bottom of an incline where water likely collects and therefore huge puddles were all around us. Although it was getting late we had to pack up and continue down the trail because we couldn't go back or stay another night. Remember when we layed out our stuff to dry? My buddy forgto to bring his rain jacket and towel in, both were soaking wet. I was relatively dry but everything else was wet. After a few hours we found a hut and decided to stay another night before we went to the nearest city and got a taxi back to our car. It was a fun journey. The tent I used was an Exped Orion-ii-extreme. It's a heavyweight but I totally trust it in the rain after that experience. Although I would make some wiser camp choices next time it might rain. 😉☔
Good video man. One tip i'd add is if you have a big enough trash bag and or frog togs you can rig it over the outside of your bag. Not only water proofing the inside gear but keeping the whole pack dry as well. I did this and it worked great. Simply cut some holes around the straps where your shoulders/arms are going to be lol also hopefully you are waterproofed.. a quality breathable rain jacket is worth its weight in gold.
I've never used a liner or garbage bag, but I did put items in ziplock bags. I never thought of covering my whole pack with a garbage bag and they did not have fancy raincoats for backpacks back in 1997... at least that I know of. I thought guy lines had to be taught/tight. I've learned so much! Thank you.
I know one you didn't mention: Where you setup your tent is super important. Don't setup too close to a river in the spring. Rivers usually peak at night. Don't setup in a basin. Make sure you have good drainage.
I’m really liking these, thanks Dan. Went camping with some friends, didn’t think it was going to rain then it started to. My friend’s tent sucked I offered trash bags for their sleeping bags, one of them didn’t want them. The next morning 2 of the 3 of us woke of dry in our Hefty trash bag bivies. The other dripped dried his sleeping bag which took a couple hours.
on certain trips, I brought a few small plastic bags I could stick over the socks into my boots. Then I got better boots, but still bring the bags just in case, and can use for other stuff as well. It makes sense if you have say 5 says walk back. I take care of my boots as well - one lesson learned.
Two things missing from this video are having a tarp inside the tent, and one over the tent. It probably wouldn’t work for ultralight camping / hiking, but it’s essential otherwise
I forgot my footprint one time but put my dogs nylon blanket under the tent. I had a huge storm that night. Stay perfectly dry. Thanks Chico for loaning your blanket for the night. (Chico was not with me that night.)
Dan, you mentioned in another mistakes video about not setting up site in too low-lying of an area--primarily because of cold air. I'll give another reason--water collection during periods of heavy rain. Yes, I've seen people set up a tent in such a place and the next morning the entire tent was sitting in 4 inches of standing water.
My worst mistake was bringing air sleeping pad. Trying to patch wet sleeping pad in the middle of the night didn't work and eventually got no sleep. From that point on, I bring sleeping pad that has both foam and air. Little bulkier and heavier but worth it.
I learned about not letting the ground cloth stick out from under the tent the hard way. A friend & I were on a Bike Virginia trip many years ago & set up the tent. I knew rain was coming & thought, "Wonder if it matters if the ground cloth is sticking out from under the tent?" I looked around & saw a whole lot of other tents with the ground cloth sticking out, so I decided it must be okay. We went off to dinner & came back after the rains... to a tent with big old puddles up under it! I've never made that mistake again!
Hi Emmett! Once when hammock camping, I had the foresight to set up a peak line above the hammock with a tarp bundled at the end. In the middle of the night, I was awakened by a cool breeze. I had only a minute to reach up and pull the tarp over the line before the skies opened up. Glad I was prepared before bedding down rather than having to dig the tarp and run the line in the middle of the storm.
For car campers, I have seen tent campers set up their tents in an area surrounded by trees on all sides. Then they tie a sloped tarp between the trees over top of the tents. Bingo . . . no water in the tents. Pretty darn cheap and easy to replace the tarp when it wears out after a few seasons.
Hi Emmet! And my tent mistake was spraying 2 layers of waterproofing spray on my tent thinking I would be good from the rain. But I made the mistake of putting a tarp that was too large under my tent therefore allowing the water to pool on the sides of the tent and soaking through. Woke up in a puddle at 1am…
had a idea enter my mind after watching this video. Now I have not tried this but see what you think. Since the ground cloth is part of you tent why not attach it to the bottom of the tent using a continuous seam of sillicon sealant all around the perimeter. Also why not carry a cellulose sponge to soak up the condensation before it puddles.inside your tent or to deal with puddles that have already formed. Seems to me a couple of ounces could save you alot of trouble.
Thanks Dan and Emmett , been awhile since I made these mistakes but a very good refresher . Getting wet in your tent can really make for a bad experience. You did forget to mention not to touch your tent when raining because you can cause it to leak .
Thank you for the tips! Hey Emmett! I have a 2 yr old grandson named Emmett whom I absolutely adore! So with a name like Emmett you will do just fine at whatever it is you choose in life! So happy to have you on here editing videos for Dan! Thank you!
Hello Emmet. Our wet weather camping mistake: setting up our tent in a runoff area. First of all, remember, it can rain at any time. We woke up with a river swirling in our tent. lol It only happens once.
You covered it pretty good. The top four mistakes I see all the time are. 1. The person did not seam seal the tent or have the manufacture do it. 2. The ground cloth sticks out all the way around the tent. I have even seen one person use the ground cloth INSIDE his tent , Yep , INSIDE. Plus he swears up and down that's the way it's meant to be used. LOL 3. Setting the tent up in a depression or actually in a water run off ditch with rain in the forecast. 4. Having the tent under a widow maker and not bother to check the trees for danger. I hammock camp 90% of the time so all I worry about are widow makers.
Great tips! Specially the one about falling trees! One big mistake I've done was to set up my tent over an leafcutter ant nest! They didn't get in but they took over the whole place! That was a hell!
I'm fairly new to camping, but did a lot of reading/watching videos to avoid many beginner mistakes. Thank you! However, never thought of this happening; severe rain/storm with rain coming in sideways up under the vents, which I didn't close. Lesson learned.
I never experienced camping until I became a scout leader. My scout master (technically my kids scout master but I my heart he was mine too) told me to always have a heavy tarp at least 10ft folded in the pack. In the event of tent failure, need for a large rain cover or someone forgetting to bring a vapor barrier that tarp was a God send. He also taught me the trash bag trick. In the event of trash bag failure, I also have contents in 1gal ziploc type bags.
Hi Emmett. Carefully choose the site you pitch the tent in, watching for low areas in which water will pool. Can also dig trenches to direct water away from the tent.
3000 mm? I'm not sure you're getting that right. Usually 10,000 is the beginning of what people consider to be water resistant. And most raters don't call a fabric water proof until 20,000. I don't even know of any rain gear rated to 3,000 mm and if I were a manufacturer, I wouldn't advertise that rating. For example, Pertex is rated to 10,000 mm usually and will often wet out after just a few hours of steady rain. Hence water resistant and not waterproof. Goretex is 28,000 mm and considered waterproof, and there are dozens of proprietary fabrics in the middle. Most of the "water proof" fabrics are 20,000 mm fabrics. I'm also from the PNW and have been backpacking long enough to remember when GoreTex was a brand new tech that only a few people even made jackets out of and even fewer could afford.
@@Dpedersen35 Ah, I see. TBH, I haven't paid attention to tent ratings in years because I went DCF a while back. Nice to just shake it off in the morning and not carry any of that moisture with you the next day. But it does come at steep price. 3000 is more like permanent DWR treatment. I'm sure it sheds water well enough, but if any water pools in the fly, it will seep through during the night. Make sure to pitch it well taught so that won't happen.
@@backpacker3421 Tents usually have lower head than jackets etc. 3000mm is the minimum I'll use, but they rarely go above 5000mm in my experience. Dyneema is too expensive for me, and I don't like the light colours/transparency, with only 1 or 2 hours of semi-darkness in summer here(Scotland) I can't sleep in them. But I do prefer silpoly rather than silnylon.
Years ago my fellow campers left their fly and windows open during the day while we were away on an excursion. Needless to say it rained. We had a lot of unhappy wet campers. I was on high ground and dry. I slept well!
I've put my tent on a flood way once and when it started raining, my tent became a fishing net: flood water was getting through the entrance and flowing out through the air net... Always camp on a higher spot and try to see how the flood water might come down from the mountain slopes.
My first backpacking trip went from Canada through United States down to the bottom of Mexico. I had zero camping experience but when I bought my equipment I just used my common sense, bought some good stuff and everything went 100% smoothly no problems. Luckily the tent that I bought was made here in Canada and it won a design award it was a winter tent that you could put up in less than 2 minutes in a Canadian blizzard with strong winds no problem
This weekend I went to Overland Expo West with my wife. I carefully and thoroughly sprayed a few items of clothing (pants, jackets, hats) with waterproofing spray to make sure we'd be good. We were not good. Despite two layers of spray, no joy was found in Mudville. Do not trust waterproofing sprays! Tent was good, except for condensation build-up. It was about 40 outside and a lot of condensation built up on the tent walls.
Hi Emmet! My biggest mistake wasn’t tent related, but making sure that if you are hiking to hole in the wall off Rialto Beach. Do not bring a stretcher with all your gear on it so that way you have a full sized cooler, 3 cases of beer, and several bags of ice. We get to the site we want to camp at it pours rain, thankfully we had a tarp for our gear to be under. Also on the Washington coast be wary of rocks filled with water. If you start a fire and they are there they will blow up and shoot shrapnel at you.
I like to cut a heavy duty plastic drop cloth to fit inside my tent and up the sidewalls of the tub floor. That way any water that eventually leaks in (some day it will) will not soak my sleeping gear. I also place a separate nylon cloth under the vestibule outside the tent door to keep dirt/mud out of the tent. Because it is separate from the ground cloth underneath the tent, water will drain away.
Hi Emmett! Dan, thanks for mentioning the proper ground cloth set up. I see a number of tenters leave that cloth sticking out from the edges of their tents.
Camper w a new very large tent iIN SPRING in NC. We put 2 tarps under to cover the areas, and I didn’t know about keep your tarps to the edges of tent, and for 2 days we took on water. Luckily my hiker, camper, backcountry camping son figured out the problem!! Hello to the cameraman! Thx for all the tips. A 61 yr old Southern lady who loves the outdoors and never too old to learn new tricks!!Love the vids, keep em coming!
Yes ground sheet is needed for the tent. I was liorning from my mistake, then I was not using ground sheet, and the root of the tree tore at the bottom of my tent. Now every time I'm going for camping, using ground sheet to protect my tent.
G'Day Emmert. I've never made any mistakes camping, either in wet weather or dry. I know everything and I'm never wrong. I thought I was once, but i was mistaken. OK, I'm lying. We all make mistakes, if we survive them it's called experience, if we never repeat them it's wisdom. The worst thing is to be out somewhere in the middle of the night and realisation hits that you have screwed up. Can make for a very long night. Love the channel.
From my experience. Keep a small shovel handy to create a trench around the tent where rainwater can run in another direction and not towards the tent.
If you survived your wet weather camping and packed up a wet tent/gear. DO NOT forget to unpack and dry it out when you get home and the weather is better before storing. If you pack up a wet tent or gear and leave it packed and chuck it in your closet when you get home, you will get mold/mildew in your gear making it smell funky and deteriorating the fabric/materials waterproofing. Another tip if setting up a double wall tent with mesh in a strong downpoor. Keep the fly over the inside mesh tentwall the whole time. The fly is the water protection that will keep it from getting soaked inside while you are setting up. A lot of double wall tents these days have external poles with clips the interior tent attaches with. You can unfurl your tent with the fly in place above the mesh, then fish the poles under the fly and pop the fly up first, then attach the interior underneath. Then stretch out and stake guy lines last. This keeps it from raining through the mesh into the bathtub/interior of the tent.
Check out the lay of the land. When I was a youngster, I set my tent up in a nice flat spot. I had all my guy lines out and tight. I had my ground cloth under my tent and nicely tucked in. My gear was all in my backpack inside of a garbage bag. Buuuuuttttt, I chose my spot poorly because when it did begin to rain, I found out I had pitched my tent in a small runoff for the rain. Yes. I set my tent up where the water channeled very nicely right under (and through) my tent. Not a good night at all.
Welcome Emmitt(sp?)!!! Great shooting! While the Hydrostatic Head rating is an important tool for comparison, viewer opinion polling on aesthetics of the different rain flys will give us a more well rounded view. I suggest a stationary camera and a Live "Wet Rainfly Contest" between Dan and Emmitt. Viewer polling to be tabulated during said contest. Points for visual appeal, degree of soak through, adherence to skin, style, flexibility, etc. The cold wet conditions will also help show the "pokeability" resistance of the different fabrics. Of course no sponsors will be needed, a tip board would generate more than enough to support the production costs. "Skin to Win" button, $10 a click....🤣
Thankfully I've kept dry during my tent camping trips, due in part to watching other people make BIG mistakes. I always check my tarp's tension before going to sleep, get to camp in good light to look at the drainage of the site, and check my gear before and after each trip for holes/loose stitching/seam seal/grit.
You forgot one big one.....don't let any part of your body or gear press up against the inside of the tent walls when it's raining as the water will seap thru and get your things wet
My brother is a paramedic. He was called to a campground where a little girl had been in the tent and a limb fell and killed her on a Kristal clear day. That one bothers more than any of the nasty accidents he worked , because his own girls was about her age.
The lower-profile the tent, the safer it is in high wind, & the smaller the tent, the warmer in cold conditions. Storm-test all gear at home, esp. new but including old that you haven't used since a season or more. Oh, & if in doubt, spray an extra layer of Kiwi Camp Dry on any new weather protection item (rain jacket/pants, tarp, etc. & _above all_ tent fly) & let it dry min. a week before you leave home, hose/rain-testing after each coat.
Something that could have been added to the video is when to actually pull out your sleeping bag. I've gone out in rainy conditions and with a cheap tent. Discovering that my sleeping bag was laid out in a puddle was obviously awful. (I've brought hot rocks to bed...careful but it can be a lifesaver.) So, keeping my sleeping bag in its bag, sopping up puddles on the floor of my tent with a dirty shirt and then pulling out my sleeping bag is what I do if I'm in rainy weather.
Seam sealing. Here's what I've been doing for more than 20 years. Instead of spending $9 for the kit at REI, go to the hardware and get 100% silicone caulking/sealant. (I buy the toothpaste style tubes for about $7 - the caulking gun cartridges I've found once you start them they will completely dry up in a matter of a couple of months.) Next get some Paint Thinner or Mineral Spirits. Finally go to the plumbing dept, look for the solder and torch stuff. Buy a packet of the Flux brushes - it's like $2 for 6-8. At the REI there are two kinds of sealant, one for silnylon and one for the other stuff. Never buy the one for the other stuff - the silnylon stuff covers it all.... as does what you just bought at the Home Depot. To seal your tent. I like to push some aluminum foil into a plastic disposable cup. This keeps the Paint Thinner from melting the cup. Squirt in some of the silicone sealant, pour in a small amount of the paint thinner, mix it with a popsicle stick, or one of the brushes. You do not have to mix it evenly, or mix it to some specific consistency. I usually have a gloop right out of the tube and almost pure Paint Thinner and stuff in between. For a seam - start with the thinnest mix paint it on. Should be all that you need. Where a gusset meets, use a bit of the thicker stuff. You've spent about $12 at the HomeDepot and you have enough sealant and brushes to do about 20 tents, so you don't have to worry about running out. You're also not stuck with one viscosity of sealant. (I've always found the REI tubes to be too think for a long seam. And because it's so thick you run out of it quicker - usually with about 2 feet top center of your tent not yet sealed...) And if you've already bought the REI stuff, get some paint thinner so it will work better and go farther. When I made my (frightening) DIY tarp tent (my sewing machine was out of whack and I was so new I couldn't tell... ugly but it's never kept me awake) I wanted it to be lightweight - so I didn't seam seal the perimeter seams or the gross grain loops - when it leaks it's only going to drip one inch to the ground, never on my head. Also tie-outs - in the middle of a panel. If I go underneath and seal just the stitching, water won't enter and I didn't have to coat the whole gusset on the outside. These I recommend going over twice. Long seams never leaked, but some of these did. And don't forget those wonderful Keen hiking boots that are 'waterproof' need a regular coating of Nik Wax or they won't be waterproof. Bad weather, winds? Cold? So no bugs? Consider making an oversized tarp tent. This is just a silnylon tarp that is about 12' long and 8' wide. Lot's of grosgrain loops along the perimeter. (I don't think a lot of tarps are big enough.) You'll need a ground sheet big enough for your sleeping bag. The difference between a tent and a tarp are. The tent has more volume - it's more like a bubble. But this also results in those weird tent noises. (I'm not afraid of anything - but those noises usually creep me out. I've slept around bears, car camped on deserted highways - while listening to books about serial killers. Tent noises? Shivers). The tarp because it winds up being mostly triangles is incredibly stable in higher winds. But having no bottom won't keep out bugs. I also cook inside my tarp because I have 360° of exits. I will never cook in a tent with a floor. Setting up a tarp is always a complete mess the first time. I made one line into two loops about 34" apart for my hiking poles. and lines to stakes. I'd set this up first, drape the tarp. To set stakes 90% of the time I just push them in with my foot. If I need to tighten one up - I'll move the stake. I almost never tie a single knot or adjust a line. Good advice about dead limbs- and you're probably not going to even be able to see a dead limb when you look up - so if there is anything dead on that tree - maybe set up somewhere else. (I keep track of when you hear loud noises while camping - you will be surprised how often you will hear a limb fall.) The garbage bags. Get compactor bags - they're very heavy duty so they will hold up in you pack rubbing around. Always bring extras. An extra one in your pack, and to share with your friends who forgot to bring one, or they've already torn their lightweight one. And large heavy duty trash bags - big as you can get. Take two. These are emergency sleeping bags, bivy sacks, and ponchos. Mistakes? Has it ever rained where you are camping? Is it going to rain that night 500 miles away? You're not sure? Put your rain fly on. Then you won't spend the rest of the night damp sleeping in your car seat and then your morning at a laundromat.
You can bet that any tent under $500 manufactured with a good waterproof fabric has not had all the seams sealed properly. Often only the fly has waterproof seams. A quality seam waterproofing kit is about $20 and it will take you about an hours to waterproof all the seams and then leave it for about 6 hours to fully cure before packing the tent up again. If this process is done every 3 years, you'll never have to deal with a drop of water inside your tent. $20 dollars very well spent.
First thing I always look for when choosing a spot for my tent is widow makers. They can and have ended some backpackers/campers lives so always be mindful of whats overhead before going to bed, it just may leave you dead.. 😉
the ground cloth /foot print isn't for keeping you dry, its to protect the material of the tent to help maintain it's waterproofness. you're walking & sleeping on it could be roots and sticks and stones underneath, if a root pokes a hole in it that could be a very expensive mistake. it also helps keep the bottom clean, which means it'll last longer overall.
it is 110% easier to use a rain cover for your backpack than a liner. Wet backpacks suck so the cover keeps the entire thing dry, not just the contents. Plus it protects the outer pockets where you keep all the snacks
I have a Bergens of Norway Fjell 3 funnel tent that does not have a footprint. The 70D nylon floor has held up very well against torrential weather but has on one occasion let water in over night when it came down all night! We will still dry and the vestibule kept all our gear dry!
Omg, i once put my sleeping bag and lower half into a garbage bag thinking it woudl keep me dryer during a rain storm but i sweated through the whole bottom of the bag and was soaking wet from comdensation inside the garbage bag. My down sleeping bag stayed wet for days till i got to a town and put it in a dryer.
Yeah, the ol' garbage bag bivvy only works if you keep it reeeal loose, & take breaks if you're getting steamy. It's imperfect but, like most flawed solutions, it does have its place.
Very good review of the basics for rainy camping, plus some stuff about new fabrics and waterproofness. I learned from experience that camping in that nice comfy looking low spot means you'll be below sea-level if it rains hard. Bottoms of hills are often get-wet spots, too
Someting missed on the guy lines. Often they have a backing on the inside that is a Velcro wrap. This is wraped around the frame poles to dull directly on the frame adding a lot of stability.
The worst 2 times I got wet camping. #1 Something you really need to watch for when setting up camp. I knew it was going to rain and maybe heavy at times. I set up at the bottom of a hill to help avoid some of the wind. When I set up my tent, I didn't notice I set up in a depression in the ground. It filled with water. When I woke up, my tent was flooded and there was nothing dry. #2 I didn't check the weather and I only took my rain fly, drop cloth and a foam pad. It rained hard that night and all the water ran up under the rain fly. Both times was so bad, I just got up and walked out.
Bring your sense of humour and fun. We spent a week camping in the rain one year - our son was about 7 at the time. By the second day, there was us and one other family. We had set up a tarp obverse the tent and picnic table, so had some dry space. But we especially had so much fun playing soccer in the rain. We had the entire campground to run around in, as well as the national park of course!
If you're well prepared to stay 1. Dry 2. Warm 3. Well-fed 4. Entertained* & 5. Well-rested (in descending order of importance), then you're equipped to wring fun & good memories rather than misery out of even the most adverse conditions. Sounds like your family are old pros.👍 *To the neophytes out there; when hiking, extra powerbanks for your phone are vital for this reason, & if you're not going UL, then a small paperback is rarely not a worthwhile investment (cards can also be good, if 1 of your mob has a tent big enough to play in). And when car-camping, you can go to town with tablets, boardgames, handset games; really anything. My personal favourite is to take a tiny projector (about the size of a smallish Good News Bible) which can play movies off any Bluetooth-capable device onto the tent wall for the whole crew to enjoy.😄
@@mysterylovescompany2657 We always purposefully went to campsites with no electric hookups, and brought no electronics. For me, that would defeat the purpose of going to the forest. Much preferred making our own fun, and carried a few handy portable games - Yatzhee, Story Cubes great in any language!), Basecamp Cards, etc. And hiking, of course. It’s amazing what you see when you’re attentive and have a gentle drizzle of rain covering any noise you’re making.
@@dcchiasson5991 I don't do campgrounds myself, as by the time you're running an electric cord, I agree, you're kind of missing out on the point of the experience. But I've never seen any harm in having some judiciously chosen electronics on hand for staving off tent-fever when need be. After all, both phones & tablets travel lighter than board games & most books of any decent thickness. And the phone you should have anyway, to be able to contact help if something goes pear-shaped, so it's not much of an extra effort. But different strokes, & all that. 🙂
#1 Not using a hammock 😉 A big rainfly allows you to basically walk in, take off your raingear at the foot end of the hammock, hang it over the suspension strap or line, step over to the hammock, remove shoes and socks while sitting on the hammock, swing your legs over, pull on your overquilt, and go to sleep. Add a bug net and one extra step in buggy weather. Definitely bring a tent to treeless campsites. 👍Dan. ✌👊
On a pretty windy weekend, I found a beautiful little low spot between to ridges to camp out of the wind. Will it rained that night and I woke up to standing water all around me. So be aware of those nice low flat spots if rain is in the forecast!
I put my base protection inside my tent. I’ve put outside and still been wet. So I put mine inside so it comes up the sides to form a tub. I’ve woken up in 3” of water and been perfectly dry. I seam seal my tent every two years and waterproof the base and fly of the tent. The fly should go to the ground not like the cheap CTC ones that stop half way. Air your tent out when you get home to prevent mildew.
I've done most of my backpacking and camping in the rain forest on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State where it's not uncommon to get over 12 feet of rain per year. I learned a long time ago (the hard way) that if it was raining or if rain was expected, to always set up a light-weight silnylon tarp over the place I planned on erecting my tent and rain fly. By first setting up a tarp, I can erect my tent and fly without either of them getting rained on. Doing so also allows me to keep all the contents of my pack dry as I unload them as well. In addition to keeping my tent dry, having a tarp over my tent makes the task of taking down the tent and reloading my pack much drier too. I never have to be concerned about putting away a wet tent or having to set up a wet tent the following day. In the 35 years I've been doing this, I've never had to contend with having wet gear.
I'm right there with you, 35 years and I go to both the Olympic Peninsula as well as out past Randle and into the Cascades.... If you aren't ready for our rains you should own a trailer lol
yeah but the people who are into ultralight backpacking want to take as little with them as possible, and the tents that he's using are definitely geared towards those type of people. somebody is into that definitely is going to want to avoid taking an extra tarp. however I doubt somebody who's into the ultralight scene is going to lack knowledge in this regard, this is more aimed at beginners. I say that but here he is putting the stakes in at an angle, he also didn't mention making sure not to set up in a location that's about to fill up with water. I had a buddy who was stealth camping and while he was away at work it began to rain, and it turns out that while those tall grasses were great to hide his campsite they were also an indication that where he was camping was an intermittent wetland. Everything he had was ruined because his stealth camp spot turned into a creek while he was away.
I agree fully with a light tarp covering the tent in rainy weather, although on trips to the Bogachiel the water can almost seem to rise up from the ground as well. My 8' x 10' Zpacks tarp is 7 ounces -- maybe 10 oz with lines and clips -- worth every bit of the weight if it's really raining. It's a good idea as noted above to find a location that drains rather than fills -- not always easy.
@@joelhollingsworth6172 Absolutely, and not always easy to set up a tarp either! Especially if you're camping on a beach like you might on coastal trails. You need lots of rope and some creative use of driftwood logs in those cases. PNW forests are great for trees, but the alpine can also be lacking good options for tarps unless you can use your hiking poles.
I just put a tarp over my tent and secure it with guylines to create a sliding surface or an a frame so the water won't accumulate. My tent is not waterproof so without the tarp/separate rain fly, I would always wake up from wetness..
There is really no better feeling to be dry inside a tent during a heavy storm. Hearing the rain pound on the fly is wonderful music to the ears.
I agree! I enjoy camping in rain and the sunshine in the next morning is almost heavenly!
It's even better under a fly tarp. You can move around in the morning rain and get a small cook campfire going. Hang out and watch your surroundings and not be hemmed in a cramped, confining tent. Haven't wasted time or effort on a tent for 40 some yrs.
Can I get ground condensation thru the floor ? Had a surprise small amount of water under sleep pad, ground cover looked good, Tyvek under that …. Just wondered where that water came from …. Hi Dan !
I live in pacific beach and I'm going to try this next time I camp thanks for sharing this
@@lizstrailsandtravels4624 proll came from ur hot breath 🤔🤔😭😭
Don’t just make sure you’re setup is sound. Make sure your backpacking buddies are setup properly too. Otherwise you might find that your 2-person tent suddenly needs to hold 3 people.
😂👍
That is a VERY good advice. Most of us may have had this experience some time in the past, where a trip became less of a wonder by having a few friends, pref. married couple, having not prepared themselves, and began arguing when water came into their love nest during the night.
Cheers.
😂 , nope, they can sleep wet
Quite a few nights waking up to noisy neighbors whose tent sprang a leak. I just get up and start a fire so they can dry out, then re-rig my tarp to hold a few more near the fire. Eventually the arguing stops and everyone is friends again by breakfast-and I get to sleep the remainder of the night without hearing the argument.
@@AC-kk3vo Tough love, I like it.
After a very wet weekend at cub scout camp with boys, I learned to always leave a dry set of clothes in the car for the ride home. Knowing that you at least have that too look forward to at the end of your trip makes it easier to deal with.
Sure, if that's how you do it. I remember a 8 hour long train trip with most things wet, and a lot of hikers in that same situation. Stay warm and dry or get sick.
I love that idea. Cozy arm and dry just in case
I keep a dry, clean set so that I can spit wash and not smell like butt and onions for the drive home. That was such a miserable drive, I'm not doing that again. I couldn't stand the smell of myself.
@@franny5295I do similar but use the clothes I drove up in. Then, if I stop at a truck stop and shower I change into my clean clothes.
Dead or compromised trees and branches are called Widow Makers for a reason. Stay safe folks, and always check for any trees or large branches that could be felled in a storm or high winds.
The most common thing I see is misreading the lay of the land - ending up in that nice flat spot that is really the bottom of a bowl and waking up in the middle of a miniature lake!
Been there. Done that. 🤣
I ve had this experience and all I can say is I'm glad I knew the doggy paddle, back stroke, and side stroke, for when I was tried of the mark spitz speed swim method.
Always sleep on a tilt. And I put it down so that I could sleep better with a tilt down to my feet.
Learned this the hard way. Nothing like a small creek running under your tent at 2:00 AM.
A few months ago I made the mistake of pulling the ground tarp out a ways in front of the tent door to make a sort of 'entry mat' to stomp the mud off of our boots before going into the tent (which at the time I thought was a brilliant idea). Fast forward to 2 AM in the morning and water had puddled on the tarp and flowed underneath the tent and you could push your hand on the tent floor and hear/ feel the giant bubble of water like we were on top of a water bed. I was worried that the water would find some small hole in the floor and come inside the tent, so we ended up having to go outside during the worst part of the rainstorm, in the dark, at 2am, and try to pull the tarp out from underneath the tent to let the extra water drain into the (thankfully sandy) soil. The water between the tent and the tarp had made some sort of a vacuum effect and It was an interesting struggle to break the seal between the tarp and the tent in order to pull it out, I was worried we were going to pull the whole g** d*** tent over with it. Never making that mistake again!
My 10x10 tent is always set up on a 10x12 tarp to provide the 'entry mat" or porch at the tent entrance. I have two 6 ft. long X 3" foam pool noodles that get installed under the tarp, just inside the front perimeter line of the tent entrance. This creates a raised dam/barrier that prevents any water landing on the "porch" migrating under the tent floor. Works perfect...never had water under the tent floor...and still enjoy the convenience of the "porch" feature.
The only thing that comes to mind, cuz I grew up in WA state which puts camping in the rain to the test, is not having proper shoes and warm dry gloves. Nothing like getting your shoes wet the first day then putting on wet shoes the rest of the time. Or having wet hands that more quickly go numb when the temps drop, and having to set up a tent with numb hands. Also a funny story. My dad decided, before we camped in the rain forests of WA, to make a car top carrier and make it without one screw or nail. Just wood glue. Well after two days of rain on our 7 day trip, the carrier came completely apart and we were miles from a hardware store where he could get supplies to fix it so me and my mom and siblings sat all day in the tent as he drove 2 hrs one way to the nearest hardware store to get tools, screws and nails and hammer and screwdriver. And then back to fix it in the monsoonal rain. He was not a happy camper, literally. My last trip with him before he died, I took him back there cuz I told him we needed a redo. We got a cabin cuz he was too crippled up to sleep in a tent. And you what? No rain. Nothing but blue skies, or that regions version of it. Lol
loved reading this story about your dads camping adventures. I hope he really enjoyed the cabin stay with the blue skies!
Welcome, Emmet! Few more: 1) Not drying out wet tents/gear during hike breaks if it's stopped raining. 2) Wearing your dry clothes instead of putting your wet clothes back on and ending up with no dry clothes.
Yep, non-cotton wet clothes will dry out fairly quickly while you hike, even under a poncho or umbrella.
Thanks for the tip , I didn't think about that, I carry 1 extra set of clothes and I should definitely keep them dry
Yeah that's why I got dry clothes and wet clothes and I mean camp clothes and walking clothes.
100th Like! 🎉
Something I've always done with my tents is put a coat of scotch gard on the outside that has really helped with water proofing it
When setting up on any sort of uneven ground, even if the ground is mildly uneven, try to pitch your tent with the entrance facing downhill.
I once experienced a brief, unexpected downpour while away from camp on a hike. When I later returned, I found that water had piled up so rapidly at the door, it spilled through the threshold via the closed zipper door, flooding the inside of my tent. Looked like a bathtub of muddy water. Everything inside was completely soaked. The tent held the water extremely well though... 🤔
Agree. And, don't pee Into the wind.
Also, door faces away from the prevailing wind direction.
You can also trench around the tent to direct water away from the tent. I did that when a downpour was just starting and it saved my tent from a flood.
If I’m expecting heavy, and I mean HEAVY, rain I dig a little trench to divert water. It doesn’t have to be much, but it will make a huge difference.
Door placement depends on your tent too. For instance, the Fly Creek shown in the video. Most people sleep with their head at the door end. Having that end downhill would be a bad idea, though it’s personal. Most people wouldn’t enjoy sleeping with their head lower than their body.
That's how the floor became known as a bathtub. 😊
As a kid, I thought the whole point was to wake up freezing cold with water flooding my tent after getting no sleep. Apparently it “builds character”, which to be fair it did help toughen me up, but BOY did I have a wake up call later in life
I used to think I was "not a camping person" for the same reason. Lost so many good years before I learned that most campers - who aren't dying of testosterone poisoning, at least - will give you total permission to bring whatever the Hell you _personally_ need to have a comfortable sleep, stay warm, & otherwise have an enjoyable time on-site (as long as you can schlep it).
A couple of years ago my nephew was camping in the redwoods and a large limb fell on him in the middle of the night. Crushed his pelvis and broke several ribs. He is fine now but had to be life flighted out and took 2 years to recover. Be carful out there.
As a brand new backpacker/camper, I've found your videos super informative and entertaining. I'm now much better equipped to spend time in the woods
OMG!! Where was this video last year when my wife and I were camping in Deception Pass and it rained for 2 days solid while we were camping?! Our tent went well past it's water resistance level, we had a tarp that we'd used under the tent, but it went well beyond the tent footprint (I didn't know any better then), and worst of all, even our rainfly was dripping. We almost packed it in and got a hotel after we awoke with soaked sleeping bags and pads, but after a quick trip to THD for some tarps, we solved our problem. I also learned that I'm really good at starting fires in the rain with firesteel. What a weekend! Welcome Emmett!
Good video, Dan! Thanks for the reminder about "widow-makers," trees that can come down in the middle of the night. On my trip to the Shawnee National Forest last week, that was on my mind in each place we camped. The last night in particular was very windy. My son and I woke up, packed up, and started to head out. Just down the trail, we found a large pine that had fallen in the middle of the night. A good reminder to keep safety first!
I don't suppose most ultralight folks will do this, but it's certainly appealing to weekenders. Carry an extra 16 oz. and bring a light tarp. Fly the tarp over the tent and you'll have an area where you can cook out of the rain, stand up and stretch, or just hang out without claustrophobia. A side wind can still get you wet, but your tent and camp will generally be dryer and more comfortable.
I'll disagree on one aspect of the ground cloth: I've found it's actually best to use one that is *bigger* than the footprint of your tent. That way, the excess can be rolled up underneath the tent footprint. It still won't stick out, and the roll creates a dam to keep all ground water out of the space under the tent floor. I do plenty of canoe camping in the wilderness, and always use a mid-gauge plastic ground cloth under my tents, cut to size with several extra inches all around. Before the fly goes on, I walk around the tent and roll the excess underneath.
Good thinking
Yea I found that curious. I was always taught to have one around the same size or bigger. Smaller means part of your tent simply isnt protected. As long as the tarp avoids any upwards angles, the run off never goes under my tent.
For our bike trips we own tents which can be set up as one.
The outer shell, the inner tent and the "ground sheet" or "footprint" by simply just putting in the "sticks" of the tent.
And the "ground sheet" is like 2 inches smaller than the ground area of the outer shell. Which helps tremendously with water coming from out of the ground.
It doesn't help with large amounts of surface water though. That is more of a thing of positioning the tent properly.
Forgive my lack of proper vocabulary. I could tell you what they are in German, but i don't know the english counterpart for the terms.
Yep. I create a bathtub effect by placing rocks and branches under the ground tarp edges, works very well to keep the water out and I rarely roll outside the hard edges.
I’ve always done the same. It’s what dad taught me, but I’ve never seen any RUclipsr say anything other than use a ground sheet smaller than the tent’s footprint.
Lots of good advice.
Choosing the HH rating is quite variable imo .
After 50 plus years of camping I’ve learned teepees with a 2000 Hydrostatic Head are great at keeping out rain as they have a very steep fall
But dome tents etc need imo at least 3000 but preferably 4000 and up HH as the tops are way flatter to the weather .
One old army trick if you get cold wet feet and can’t dry them , boots off put your feet into ordinary plastic bags (shopping bags work well )
then put your boots back on.
I guarantee within minutes your feet will be toasty warm
I'm a little late to the thread, but one thing that was made very clear to me in a hail storm my 2nd or 3rd night out on the A.T. in 2017 was that the tent orientation matters. I have a ZPacks Duplex. The vestibules are constructed as two overlapping flaps on each side held out by guy lines. If that overlap is open in the direction of the wind, at some point you will not have a tent. You will have loose cloth as the wind rips into that gap, pulls out your tent stakes from the (now) soaked earth and the entire structure becomes unstable. Learning to rotate that 180 degrees so the opening is away from the prevailing wind direction significantly improved the many rainy nights that followed on that trip and in the years since.
Great video Dan.
A mistake I made when starting out was not leaving enough air flow and getting wet with condensation
Most nylon tents do not let rain water in but there is a however. Stay away from the walls. any touching of the nylon will allow water to get through. Be sure your rain fly is tight enough to not touch the screening on the top of the tent in a rain. Once the rain fly touches the screen all the water on it will break through.
Bought a 2 person tent for me and the wife (GF at the time). I'm a large guy that took up most of the tent myself. Rain came in due to fabric touching the sides and the ground cover was too large and channeled water under us. We woke up in the middle of the night to a lake in our tent and all or our clothing was unprotected and soaked. Spent the rest of the night in her little VW and the whole next day at the laundromat. I broke almost every rule you brought up in this video and then some! Still better than not camping though.
An important consideration for DCF tents when backpacking (less important for car camping):
DCF does not absorb any water either. Not only will it keep water off of you and your gear, but it will not gain any weight from absorbed moisture. Shake it off before you pack it away, and you won't be carrying water weight in your tent fabric. Even the best silnylon will pick up a surprising amount of weight from moisture in the fabric.
Hi guys, special hello to Emmet. We learned these things the hard way, 8 day camping (first time in 30 years, mind you) in the Oklahoma forest, in October. It rained for 6 days and only cleared up for the final 2 days. What an experience!!
For the water proof liner for your bag, try contractor bags. They're a couple mils thick and wont puncture as easy as a regular trash bag. Just food for thought everybody.
Hey ive been camping for about 4 years now and in Europe where the Rain takes up about 70% of the year and these are tips you couldnt find that easy on here 4 years ago. So thanks for the New campers out there, these are good tips.
I've been camping since the early 2000s, and have never owned a tent over 150 bucks. My biggest was a 6 person that I used for festivals, bought for 125 bucks on clearance, Coleman brand. Survived an entire winter set up in my back yard covered in snow. Never once leaked, and actually got super warm inside with all the snow packed around it.
My biggest problem in the last 20 years has been keeping cool in the mornings actually.
I always have enough to keep warm at night, but by morning it's always an oven inside.
Can you say what exact Coleman, please?
You can never review the basics often enough. This experience didn't ruin my trip but created anxiety, very simplify I never set my tent up in the rain before going out on a hike. Welcome Emmet. Thanks Dan
Don’t forget to use the Velcro to attach your fly to the poles. Not only does it help with alignment and general stability, you’re wasting your time with guylines if the fly isn’t velcroed to the poles. Notice those pole attachment Velcro strips are always aligned with guyline attachment points? 🤔
This, you have a big risk of damaging your tent if you don't connect those.
I’d recommend a ground cloth that’s actually BIGGER than your tents floor blueprint. Reason being is so you can fold down to the proper dimensions as you see fit down to the literal inch. You can’t make a cloth bigger, but you can definitely make it smaller. Also, if it’s big enough to fold completely in half then you have that much more insulation from the ground.
Question if I’m paying $8-900 for a tent why don’t the manufacturers include a stronger floor for these instances
Marketing. If I can sell you a lighter weight tent than the other guy, you’re more likely to buy my tent. Many of these tents are geared toward ultralight backpacking which, for some reason doesn’t take into account that you still need a tarp and fly. A lot of ultralighters will save on money by getting Tyvek for their tarps and cutting to size, so most people just accept that they’ll need to protect the floor of their tent. But yes, to answer your question, I’d rather carry a couple extra ounces for reassurance that my tent floor is stronger and slightly heavier and will be safe. This is from someone who would count grams backpacking through the Grand Canyon for 8 days, then bring all the latest electronics just because I could. It’s passion and preference, where none of it really makes logically sense. @@mikaelhgn1
After a few misjudgements on our adventure me and my hiking buddy arrived way too late at the bottom of the mountain after dark. We were both exhausted so we picked the first relatively flat area we could find. There were big rocks and patches of grass. Everything was wet because it rained most of the day but it wasn't too bad and we didn't want to look for a better place in the dark. We ate a well deserved meal and went to bed. When we woke up the next morning it was already raining. It stopped for a quick moment and we made breakfast. My friend packed up his tent and we layed out some stuff to dry in the sun that came out. As we were finishing breakfast it started to rain again. We sat in my tent that was big enough for two people and we waited for the rain to stop so we could start our way back. Heavier rain and wind set in and we decided to not go back over the mountain unless the weather cleared up. We waited and I took a look outside. The front vestibule where we kept our shoes and backpacks was already soaking wet. I opened the back vestibule and realised half of the tent was in a 5 cm deep puddle. My tent was barely high enough to keep the water out, but to our surprise the inside of the tent was still dry. We had to wait for a few hours until the clouds passed and the sky cleared up. When we got out of the tent we realised we set up our tents at the bottom of an incline where water likely collects and therefore huge puddles were all around us. Although it was getting late we had to pack up and continue down the trail because we couldn't go back or stay another night. Remember when we layed out our stuff to dry? My buddy forgto to bring his rain jacket and towel in, both were soaking wet. I was relatively dry but everything else was wet. After a few hours we found a hut and decided to stay another night before we went to the nearest city and got a taxi back to our car. It was a fun journey. The tent I used was an Exped Orion-ii-extreme. It's a heavyweight but I totally trust it in the rain after that experience. Although I would make some wiser camp choices next time it might rain. 😉☔
Good video man. One tip i'd add is if you have a big enough trash bag and or frog togs you can rig it over the outside of your bag. Not only water proofing the inside gear but keeping the whole pack dry as well. I did this and it worked great. Simply cut some holes around the straps where your shoulders/arms are going to be lol also hopefully you are waterproofed.. a quality breathable rain jacket is worth its weight in gold.
I figured you would mention the importance of keeping body and items from touching the inside of the tent. This happens so often.
I've never used a liner or garbage bag, but I did put items in ziplock bags. I never thought of covering my whole pack with a garbage bag and they did not have fancy raincoats for backpacks back in 1997... at least that I know of. I thought guy lines had to be taught/tight. I've learned so much! Thank you.
I know one you didn't mention: Where you setup your tent is super important. Don't setup too close to a river in the spring. Rivers usually peak at night. Don't setup in a basin. Make sure you have good drainage.
I’m really liking these, thanks Dan. Went camping with some friends, didn’t think it was going to rain then it started to. My friend’s tent sucked I offered trash bags for their sleeping bags, one of them didn’t want them. The next morning 2 of the 3 of us woke of dry in our Hefty trash bag bivies. The other dripped dried his sleeping bag which took a couple hours.
on certain trips, I brought a few small plastic bags I could stick over the socks into my boots. Then I got better boots, but still bring the bags just in case, and can use for other stuff as well. It makes sense if you have say 5 says walk back. I take care of my boots as well - one lesson learned.
The kitchen-sized garbage bag as a liner is a good idea, just make sure it is unscented. To avoid attracting unwanted visitors.
I'm happy that everyone wants to go hiking again, and this didn't scare them off.
Two things missing from this video are having a tarp inside the tent, and one over the tent. It probably wouldn’t work for ultralight camping / hiking, but it’s essential otherwise
I forgot my footprint one time but put my dogs nylon blanket under the tent. I had a huge storm that night. Stay perfectly dry. Thanks Chico for loaning your blanket for the night. (Chico was not with me that night.)
Dan, you mentioned in another mistakes video about not setting up site in too low-lying of an area--primarily because of cold air. I'll give another reason--water collection during periods of heavy rain. Yes, I've seen people set up a tent in such a place and the next morning the entire tent was sitting in 4 inches of standing water.
My worst mistake was bringing air sleeping pad. Trying to patch wet sleeping pad in the middle of the night didn't work and eventually got no sleep. From that point on, I bring sleeping pad that has both foam and air. Little bulkier and heavier but worth it.
I learned about not letting the ground cloth stick out from under the tent the hard way. A friend & I were on a Bike Virginia trip many years ago & set up the tent. I knew rain was coming & thought, "Wonder if it matters if the ground cloth is sticking out from under the tent?" I looked around & saw a whole lot of other tents with the ground cloth sticking out, so I decided it must be okay. We went off to dinner & came back after the rains... to a tent with big old puddles up under it! I've never made that mistake again!
Hi Emmett!
Once when hammock camping, I had the foresight to set up a peak line above the hammock with a tarp bundled at the end. In the middle of the night, I was awakened by a cool breeze. I had only a minute to reach up and pull the tarp over the line before the skies opened up. Glad I was prepared before bedding down rather than having to dig the tarp and run the line in the middle of the storm.
For car campers, I have seen tent campers set up their tents in an area surrounded by trees on all sides. Then they tie a sloped tarp between the trees over top of the tents. Bingo . . . no water in the tents. Pretty darn cheap and easy to replace the tarp when it wears out after a few seasons.
Hi Emmet! And my tent mistake was spraying 2 layers of waterproofing spray on my tent thinking I would be good from the rain. But I made the mistake of putting a tarp that was too large under my tent therefore allowing the water to pool on the sides of the tent and soaking through. Woke up in a puddle at 1am…
had a idea enter my mind after watching this video. Now I have not tried this but see what you think. Since the ground cloth is part of you tent why not attach it to the bottom of the tent using a continuous seam of sillicon sealant all around the perimeter. Also why not carry a cellulose sponge to soak up the condensation before it puddles.inside your tent or to deal with puddles that have already formed. Seems to me a couple of ounces could save you alot of trouble.
Thanks Dan and Emmett , been awhile since I made these mistakes but a very good refresher . Getting wet in your tent can really make for a bad experience. You did forget to mention not to touch your tent when raining because you can cause it to leak .
Yo Emmit!!
And making sure the tent is set up correctly so the fly isn't touching the tent anywhere!
Thank you for the tips! Hey Emmett! I have a 2 yr old grandson named Emmett whom I absolutely adore! So with a name like Emmett you will do just fine at whatever it is you choose in life! So happy to have you on here editing videos for Dan! Thank you!
Hello Emmet.
Our wet weather camping mistake: setting up our tent in a runoff area. First of all, remember, it can rain at any time. We woke up with a river swirling in our tent. lol
It only happens once.
You covered it pretty good. The top four mistakes I see all the time are. 1. The person did not seam seal the tent or have the manufacture do it. 2. The ground cloth sticks out all the way around the tent. I have even seen one person use the ground cloth INSIDE his tent , Yep , INSIDE. Plus he swears up and down that's the way it's meant to be used. LOL 3. Setting the tent up in a depression or actually in a water run off ditch with rain in the forecast. 4. Having the tent under a widow maker and not bother to check the trees for danger. I hammock camp 90% of the time so all I worry about are widow makers.
Great tips! Specially the one about falling trees!
One big mistake I've done was to set up my tent over an leafcutter ant nest! They didn't get in but they took over the whole place! That was a hell!
I'm fairly new to camping, but did a lot of reading/watching videos to avoid many beginner mistakes. Thank you! However, never thought of this happening; severe rain/storm with rain coming in sideways up under the vents, which I didn't close. Lesson learned.
I never experienced camping until I became a scout leader. My scout master (technically my kids scout master but I my heart he was mine too) told me to always have a heavy tarp at least 10ft folded in the pack. In the event of tent failure, need for a large rain cover or someone forgetting to bring a vapor barrier that tarp was a God send.
He also taught me the trash bag trick. In the event of trash bag failure, I also have contents in 1gal ziploc type bags.
Thanks for your videos, I just started backpacking this year , and I've learned a ton watching them.
UHMWPE is amazing material and it isnt so expensive, just rarely used. Bulletproof vests are made of it.
Hi Emmett. Carefully choose the site you pitch the tent in, watching for low areas in which water will pool. Can also dig trenches to direct water away from the tent.
When it comes to waterproofing, I live in the PNW and 3000mm has proven to be more than good enough. Hope that helps someone. Hi Emmet.
3000 mm? I'm not sure you're getting that right. Usually 10,000 is the beginning of what people consider to be water resistant. And most raters don't call a fabric water proof until 20,000. I don't even know of any rain gear rated to 3,000 mm and if I were a manufacturer, I wouldn't advertise that rating.
For example, Pertex is rated to 10,000 mm usually and will often wet out after just a few hours of steady rain. Hence water resistant and not waterproof. Goretex is 28,000 mm and considered waterproof, and there are dozens of proprietary fabrics in the middle. Most of the "water proof" fabrics are 20,000 mm fabrics.
I'm also from the PNW and have been backpacking long enough to remember when GoreTex was a brand new tech that only a few people even made jackets out of and even fewer could afford.
@@backpacker3421 Sorry, I was referring to the tent. I have a DD Tent and it's 3000mm and keeps the water out
@@Dpedersen35 Ah, I see. TBH, I haven't paid attention to tent ratings in years because I went DCF a while back. Nice to just shake it off in the morning and not carry any of that moisture with you the next day. But it does come at steep price.
3000 is more like permanent DWR treatment. I'm sure it sheds water well enough, but if any water pools in the fly, it will seep through during the night. Make sure to pitch it well taught so that won't happen.
My lunar solo is 3000 mm. Most tent’s are only 1200mm such as Big Agnus. I have been in some decent rain in the north east with no problem’s.
@@backpacker3421 Tents usually have lower head than jackets etc. 3000mm is the minimum I'll use, but they rarely go above 5000mm in my experience. Dyneema is too expensive for me, and I don't like the light colours/transparency, with only 1 or 2 hours of semi-darkness in summer here(Scotland) I can't sleep in them. But I do prefer silpoly rather than silnylon.
Years ago my fellow campers left their fly and windows open during the day while we were away on an excursion. Needless to say it rained. We had a lot of unhappy wet campers. I was on high ground and dry. I slept well!
I've put my tent on a flood way once and when it started raining, my tent became a fishing net: flood water was getting through the entrance and flowing out through the air net... Always camp on a higher spot and try to see how the flood water might come down from the mountain slopes.
My first backpacking trip went from Canada through United States down to the bottom of Mexico. I had zero camping experience but when I bought my equipment I just used my common sense, bought some good stuff and everything went 100% smoothly no problems. Luckily the tent that I bought was made here in Canada and it won a design award it was a winter tent that you could put up in less than 2 minutes in a Canadian blizzard with strong winds no problem
This weekend I went to Overland Expo West with my wife. I carefully and thoroughly sprayed a few items of clothing (pants, jackets, hats) with waterproofing spray to make sure we'd be good.
We were not good.
Despite two layers of spray, no joy was found in Mudville. Do not trust waterproofing sprays!
Tent was good, except for condensation build-up. It was about 40 outside and a lot of condensation built up on the tent walls.
Hi Emmet! My biggest mistake wasn’t tent related, but making sure that if you are hiking to hole in the wall off Rialto Beach. Do not bring a stretcher with all your gear on it so that way you have a full sized cooler, 3 cases of beer, and several bags of ice. We get to the site we want to camp at it pours rain, thankfully we had a tarp for our gear to be under. Also on the Washington coast be wary of rocks filled with water. If you start a fire and they are there they will blow up and shoot shrapnel at you.
Nice camera work and editing Emmett! I look forward to seeing you more on the channel. ⛺️👍🏻
Thank you so much! I'm really happy to be here!
I like to cut a heavy duty plastic drop cloth to fit inside my tent and up the sidewalls of the tub floor. That way any water that eventually leaks in (some day it will) will not soak my sleeping gear. I also place a separate nylon cloth under the vestibule outside the tent door to keep dirt/mud out of the tent. Because it is separate from the ground cloth underneath the tent, water will drain away.
Hi Emmett! Dan, thanks for mentioning the proper ground cloth set up. I see a number of tenters leave that cloth sticking out from the edges of their tents.
Camper w a new very large tent iIN SPRING in NC. We put 2 tarps under to cover the areas, and I didn’t know about keep your tarps to the edges of tent, and for 2 days we took on water. Luckily my hiker, camper, backcountry camping son figured out the problem!! Hello to the cameraman! Thx for all the tips. A 61 yr old Southern lady who loves the outdoors and never too old to learn new tricks!!Love the vids, keep em coming!
Yes ground sheet is needed for the tent. I was liorning from my mistake, then I was not using ground sheet, and the root of the tree tore at the bottom of my tent. Now every time I'm going for camping, using ground sheet to protect my tent.
G'Day Emmert. I've never made any mistakes camping, either in wet weather or dry. I know everything and I'm never wrong. I thought I was once, but i was mistaken. OK, I'm lying. We all make mistakes, if we survive them it's called experience, if we never repeat them it's wisdom. The worst thing is to be out somewhere in the middle of the night and realisation hits that you have screwed up. Can make for a very long night. Love the channel.
G'day to you too!
Silpoly is also superior in the rain vs silnylon. It is the reason why Dan Durston uses it on the X-Mid.
From my experience. Keep a small shovel handy to create a trench around the tent where rainwater can run in another direction and not towards the tent.
I made the mistake of using an oversized ground cover on a wet memorial day weekend once...wish you made this video 15 years ago Dan!
If you survived your wet weather camping and packed up a wet tent/gear. DO NOT forget to unpack and dry it out when you get home and the weather is better before storing. If you pack up a wet tent or gear and leave it packed and chuck it in your closet when you get home, you will get mold/mildew in your gear making it smell funky and deteriorating the fabric/materials waterproofing.
Another tip if setting up a double wall tent with mesh in a strong downpoor. Keep the fly over the inside mesh tentwall the whole time. The fly is the water protection that will keep it from getting soaked inside while you are setting up. A lot of double wall tents these days have external poles with clips the interior tent attaches with. You can unfurl your tent with the fly in place above the mesh, then fish the poles under the fly and pop the fly up first, then attach the interior underneath. Then stretch out and stake guy lines last. This keeps it from raining through the mesh into the bathtub/interior of the tent.
Check out the lay of the land. When I was a youngster, I set my tent up in a nice flat spot. I had all my guy lines out and tight. I had my ground cloth under my tent and nicely tucked in. My gear was all in my backpack inside of a garbage bag.
Buuuuuttttt, I chose my spot poorly because when it did begin to rain, I found out I had pitched my tent in a small runoff for the rain. Yes. I set my tent up where the water channeled very nicely right under (and through) my tent. Not a good night at all.
Welcome Emmitt(sp?)!!! Great shooting!
While the Hydrostatic Head rating is an important tool for comparison, viewer opinion polling on aesthetics of the different rain flys will give us a more well rounded view. I suggest a stationary camera and a Live "Wet Rainfly Contest" between Dan and Emmitt. Viewer polling to be tabulated during said contest. Points for visual appeal, degree of soak through, adherence to skin, style, flexibility, etc. The cold wet conditions will also help show the "pokeability" resistance of the different fabrics. Of course no sponsors will be needed, a tip board would generate more than enough to support the production costs. "Skin to Win" button, $10 a click....🤣
Thank you!
Thankfully I've kept dry during my tent camping trips, due in part to watching other people make BIG mistakes. I always check my tarp's tension before going to sleep, get to camp in good light to look at the drainage of the site, and check my gear before and after each trip for holes/loose stitching/seam seal/grit.
hey thats a good point never thought of that, make sure you have enough light to check where ur camping whether it be sunlight or a good flashlight
You forgot one big one.....don't let any part of your body or gear press up against the inside of the tent walls when it's raining as the water will seap thru and get your things wet
Tarps can also be tucked under the tent. It doesn't actually have to be smaller. Just roll any extra material out of sight under the tent.
My brother is a paramedic. He was called to a campground where a little girl had been in the tent and a limb fell and killed her on a Kristal clear day. That one bothers more than any of the nasty accidents he worked , because his own girls was about her age.
OMG that's terrible... 🙏😔 Prayers
Another note for the guy ropes: some rain flys have straps that attach to the support poles. Those are important when it's windy.
The lower-profile the tent, the safer it is in high wind, & the smaller the tent, the warmer in cold conditions. Storm-test all gear at home, esp. new but including old that you haven't used since a season or more. Oh, & if in doubt, spray an extra layer of Kiwi Camp Dry on any new weather protection item (rain jacket/pants, tarp, etc. & _above all_ tent fly) & let it dry min. a week before you leave home, hose/rain-testing after each coat.
That kiwi camp dry stuff is poisonous and very flammable. You really shouldn't use it.
@@mashadarii thank you for the tip, I'll have a look into that.
Setting up in a valley....all the water drained down to my camp. There was a river running under me. 😳
Trash compactor bags also work VERY well to keep water out, and are very strong.
Something that could have been added to the video is when to actually pull out your sleeping bag. I've gone out in rainy conditions and with a cheap tent. Discovering that my sleeping bag was laid out in a puddle was obviously awful. (I've brought hot rocks to bed...careful but it can be a lifesaver.) So, keeping my sleeping bag in its bag, sopping up puddles on the floor of my tent with a dirty shirt and then pulling out my sleeping bag is what I do if I'm in rainy weather.
Turning that pack liner into a makeshift bivvy once your sleeping bag _is_ deployed can also make all the difference, on those occasions.
Seam sealing. Here's what I've been doing for more than 20 years. Instead of spending $9 for the kit at REI, go to the hardware and get 100% silicone caulking/sealant. (I buy the toothpaste style tubes for about $7 - the caulking gun cartridges I've found once you start them they will completely dry up in a matter of a couple of months.) Next get some Paint Thinner or Mineral Spirits. Finally go to the plumbing dept, look for the solder and torch stuff. Buy a packet of the Flux brushes - it's like $2 for 6-8. At the REI there are two kinds of sealant, one for silnylon and one for the other stuff. Never buy the one for the other stuff - the silnylon stuff covers it all.... as does what you just bought at the Home Depot.
To seal your tent. I like to push some aluminum foil into a plastic disposable cup. This keeps the Paint Thinner from melting the cup. Squirt in some of the silicone sealant, pour in a small amount of the paint thinner, mix it with a popsicle stick, or one of the brushes. You do not have to mix it evenly, or mix it to some specific consistency. I usually have a gloop right out of the tube and almost pure Paint Thinner and stuff in between. For a seam - start with the thinnest mix paint it on. Should be all that you need. Where a gusset meets, use a bit of the thicker stuff. You've spent about $12 at the HomeDepot and you have enough sealant and brushes to do about 20 tents, so you don't have to worry about running out. You're also not stuck with one viscosity of sealant. (I've always found the REI tubes to be too think for a long seam. And because it's so thick you run out of it quicker - usually with about 2 feet top center of your tent not yet sealed...) And if you've already bought the REI stuff, get some paint thinner so it will work better and go farther. When I made my (frightening) DIY tarp tent (my sewing machine was out of whack and I was so new I couldn't tell... ugly but it's never kept me awake) I wanted it to be lightweight - so I didn't seam seal the perimeter seams or the gross grain loops - when it leaks it's only going to drip one inch to the ground, never on my head. Also tie-outs - in the middle of a panel. If I go underneath and seal just the stitching, water won't enter and I didn't have to coat the whole gusset on the outside. These I recommend going over twice. Long seams never leaked, but some of these did.
And don't forget those wonderful Keen hiking boots that are 'waterproof' need a regular coating of Nik Wax or they won't be waterproof.
Bad weather, winds? Cold? So no bugs? Consider making an oversized tarp tent. This is just a silnylon tarp that is about 12' long and 8' wide. Lot's of grosgrain loops along the perimeter. (I don't think a lot of tarps are big enough.) You'll need a ground sheet big enough for your sleeping bag. The difference between a tent and a tarp are. The tent has more volume - it's more like a bubble. But this also results in those weird tent noises. (I'm not afraid of anything - but those noises usually creep me out. I've slept around bears, car camped on deserted highways - while listening to books about serial killers. Tent noises? Shivers). The tarp because it winds up being mostly triangles is incredibly stable in higher winds. But having no bottom won't keep out bugs. I also cook inside my tarp because I have 360° of exits. I will never cook in a tent with a floor. Setting up a tarp is always a complete mess the first time. I made one line into two loops about 34" apart for my hiking poles. and lines to stakes. I'd set this up first, drape the tarp. To set stakes 90% of the time I just push them in with my foot. If I need to tighten one up - I'll move the stake. I almost never tie a single knot or adjust a line.
Good advice about dead limbs- and you're probably not going to even be able to see a dead limb when you look up - so if there is anything dead on that tree - maybe set up somewhere else. (I keep track of when you hear loud noises while camping - you will be surprised how often you will hear a limb fall.)
The garbage bags. Get compactor bags - they're very heavy duty so they will hold up in you pack rubbing around. Always bring extras. An extra one in your pack, and to share with your friends who forgot to bring one, or they've already torn their lightweight one. And large heavy duty trash bags - big as you can get. Take two. These are emergency sleeping bags, bivy sacks, and ponchos.
Mistakes? Has it ever rained where you are camping? Is it going to rain that night 500 miles away? You're not sure? Put your rain fly on. Then you won't spend the rest of the night damp sleeping in your car seat and then your morning at a laundromat.
You can bet that any tent under $500 manufactured with a good waterproof fabric has not had all the seams sealed properly. Often only the fly has waterproof seams. A quality seam waterproofing kit is about $20 and it will take you about an hours to waterproof all the seams and then leave it for about 6 hours to fully cure before packing the tent up again. If this process is done every 3 years, you'll never have to deal with a drop of water inside your tent. $20 dollars very well spent.
Its good to know which way the weather is coming. So the camp can be set up accordingly. I sill have my old NOAH.
First thing I always look for when choosing a spot for my tent is widow makers. They can and have ended some backpackers/campers lives so always be mindful of whats overhead before going to bed, it just may leave you dead.. 😉
the ground cloth /foot print isn't for keeping you dry, its to protect the material of the tent to help maintain it's waterproofness. you're walking & sleeping on it could be roots and sticks and stones underneath, if a root pokes a hole in it that could be a very expensive mistake. it also helps keep the bottom clean, which means it'll last longer overall.
it is 110% easier to use a rain cover for your backpack than a liner. Wet backpacks suck so the cover keeps the entire thing dry, not just the contents. Plus it protects the outer pockets where you keep all the snacks
I have a Bergens of Norway Fjell 3 funnel tent that does not have a footprint. The 70D nylon floor has held up very well against torrential weather but has on one occasion let water in over night when it came down all night! We will still dry and the vestibule kept all our gear dry!
Omg, i once put my sleeping bag and lower half into a garbage bag thinking it woudl keep me dryer during a rain storm but i sweated through the whole bottom of the bag and was soaking wet from comdensation inside the garbage bag. My down sleeping bag stayed wet for days till i got to a town and put it in a dryer.
Yeah, the ol' garbage bag bivvy only works if you keep it reeeal loose, & take breaks if you're getting steamy. It's imperfect but, like most flawed solutions, it does have its place.
Very good review of the basics for rainy camping, plus some stuff about new fabrics and waterproofness.
I learned from experience that camping in that nice comfy looking low spot means you'll be below sea-level if it rains hard. Bottoms of hills are often get-wet spots, too
Someting missed on the guy lines. Often they have a backing on the inside that is a Velcro wrap. This is wraped around the frame poles to dull directly on the frame adding a lot of stability.
The worst 2 times I got wet camping. #1 Something you really need to watch for when setting up camp. I knew it was going to rain and maybe heavy at times. I set up at the bottom of a hill to help avoid some of the wind. When I set up my tent, I didn't notice I set up in a depression in the ground. It filled with water. When I woke up, my tent was flooded and there was nothing dry. #2 I didn't check the weather and I only took my rain fly, drop cloth and a foam pad. It rained hard that night and all the water ran up under the rain fly. Both times was so bad, I just got up and walked out.
Bring your sense of humour and fun. We spent a week camping in the rain one year - our son was about 7 at the time. By the second day, there was us and one other family. We had set up a tarp obverse the tent and picnic table, so had some dry space. But we especially had so much fun playing soccer in the rain. We had the entire campground to run around in, as well as the national park of course!
If you're well prepared to stay 1. Dry 2. Warm 3. Well-fed 4. Entertained* & 5. Well-rested (in descending order of importance), then you're equipped to wring fun & good memories rather than misery out of even the most adverse conditions. Sounds like your family are old pros.👍
*To the neophytes out there; when hiking, extra powerbanks for your phone are vital for this reason, & if you're not going UL, then a small paperback is rarely not a worthwhile investment (cards can also be good, if 1 of your mob has a tent big enough to play in). And when car-camping, you can go to town with tablets, boardgames, handset games; really anything. My personal favourite is to take a tiny projector (about the size of a smallish Good News Bible) which can play movies off any Bluetooth-capable device onto the tent wall for the whole crew to enjoy.😄
@@mysterylovescompany2657 We always purposefully went to campsites with no electric hookups, and brought no electronics. For me, that would defeat the purpose of going to the forest. Much preferred making our own fun, and carried a few handy portable games - Yatzhee, Story Cubes great in any language!), Basecamp Cards, etc. And hiking, of course. It’s amazing what you see when you’re attentive and have a gentle drizzle of rain covering any noise you’re making.
@@dcchiasson5991 I don't do campgrounds myself, as by the time you're running an electric cord, I agree, you're kind of missing out on the point of the experience.
But I've never seen any harm in having some judiciously chosen electronics on hand for staving off tent-fever when need be. After all, both phones & tablets travel lighter than board games & most books of any decent thickness. And the phone you should have anyway, to be able to contact help if something goes pear-shaped, so it's not much of an extra effort.
But different strokes, & all that. 🙂
#1 Not using a hammock 😉 A big rainfly allows you to basically walk in, take off your raingear at the foot end of the hammock, hang it over the suspension strap or line, step over to the hammock, remove shoes and socks while sitting on the hammock, swing your legs over, pull on your overquilt, and go to sleep. Add a bug net and one extra step in buggy weather.
Definitely bring a tent to treeless campsites.
👍Dan. ✌👊
On a pretty windy weekend, I found a beautiful little low spot between to ridges to camp out of the wind. Will it rained that night and I woke up to standing water all around me. So be aware of those nice low flat spots if rain is in the forecast!
I put my base protection inside my tent. I’ve put outside and still been wet. So I put mine inside so it comes up the sides to form a tub. I’ve woken up in 3” of water and been perfectly dry. I seam seal my tent every two years and waterproof the base and fly of the tent.
The fly should go to the ground not like the cheap CTC ones that stop half way. Air your tent out when you get home to prevent mildew.
Excellent points, the one about putting slack in was new to me but won’t be forgotten.